


It's clear everything will never be the same again

by punknerdmusings



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avatar Ozai, Gen, Good Dad Ozai, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Yeah I'm tossing together two things that barely or just don't exist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28541478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punknerdmusings/pseuds/punknerdmusings
Summary: Ozai is forty when he finds the Avatar. Or rather, he finds out that he is the Avatar. This changes many things, the first of which being that he has a new urgency to ending this war.He's a good dad in this one. Like, a really good dad. And children dying is the last thing he wants.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ...Listen. Nobody writes either of these. I have seen exactly zero Avatar Ozai fics, good or bad, so I'm making both a reality eventually. Good Ozai comes first, however, since that is what brain likes right now.

Ozai enjoyed this first opportunity to get away from the palace on the solstice, settling on a cliff on Crescent Moon Island. It was Avatar Roku’s home, and a typical Fire Sage would have made the solstice pilgrimage decades ago. He was not a typical Fire Sage, however, being one of the princes of the Fire Nation and all. He had always played a role in the festivities at the palace, but seeing as he was forty, he had requested from the Fire Lord that he finally have the opportunity to make the journey. Ozai had been dismissed without a second thought, and here he was, surrounded by incense and hearing the crashing of the waves far below. It was an ancient custom, tracing back to when there was still an Avatar. The four elements working in harmony, creating his environment. And he slipped easily into meditation, the flames on the sticks growing and shrinking with his breaths, listening as the waves faded from his awareness.

He wasn’t quite sure how he ended up on his back, looking up at a too-bright sky, light blue flowers covering his body as he sat up. In fact, he wasn’t sure where he was, as he’d never seen anywhere quite like this in the Fire Nation, or even where he had traveled in the Earth Kingdom. He slowly stood, drinking in the strange, ethereal beauty of this place. Trees waved their branches in a non-existent wind, and small animals chittered high above him. Wherever he had ended up, it was stunning.

His musings on where he was got cut short by a child clad in strange yellow and red robes crashing into him, giggling. Ozai was sent flying, landing on his back again. A head popped into view, one hand holding a long wooden staff. He couldn’t make out any detail against the bright backdrop, except that there didn’t seem to be any visible hair.

“Hi! I’m Aang!”

“Ow.” Ozai sat up once more, rubbing his head with a groan. He wasn’t expecting a preteen to come out of nowhere, and the kid’s voice was entirely too chipper. Ignoring the fact that he somehow knew the kid’s name before Aang told him, he eyed the robes Aang wore. The colors and designs rang faint bells in his head. “What are you wearing?”

“Air Nomad clothes, of course!”

Ozai saw the tattoos then. Tattoos he has seen depicted in the scrolls and books the Fire Sages held in their libraries. Tattoos that hadn’t been seen in person for nearly a hundred years. Tattoos of a master airbender. “Air Nomad?”

“Yeah!” Aang spun around, grinning. Ozai could almost imagine the swirls of air that would have followed the motion, billowing out the kid’s robes even more. It seemed like he didn’t even realize he wasn’t bending, that it had come so naturally to him in life that it was unthinkable to not have it in death. “I was the Avatar, and I think the solstice helped me connect with you.”

“Why would you want to connect with me?”

“Because you’re the Avatar. Didn’t you know that?” Aang cocked his head, wide eyes regarding him with curiosity. “Isn’t that why you came to Roku’s island?”

Ozai shook his head. “I came to Crescent Moon Island because generations of Fire Sages have performed the pilgrimage, and while I will never become a full sage, I have always desired to complete my training in such a fashion.”

Aang shrugged. “Well, you are the Avatar. So maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t get to be a sage!”

Ozai sat down on a nearby rock, processing that. The last thing he had expected to find out during this trip was the news that the Fire Nation’s greatest enemy was, in fact, not technically an enemy. “I’m the Avatar. The person my family has been trying to find for three generations. Grandfather, Father, even my brother looked for a time. And the spirits thought it would be funny to make me the Avatar.”

Aang shrugged. “I don’t know what chose you, but it did. And you at least made it longer than Tallara and Li did! They were the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom Avatars in between us.”

“How old were they?” Ozai had a sinking feeling he wouldn’t like the answer.

“Both of them were a couple of years older than me, at fifteen. Tallara was a water healer and Li was a sanderbender.”

Ozai felt sick to his stomach as he put his head in his hands. Lu Ten had been roughly their age when he joined his father in the Siege of Ba Sing Se. He was nineteen now, a fine prince in his own right.

Aang patted his shoulder. “It’s okay. They just didn’t think they had anything to offer you. Both of them are so different to the apprentice nuns in the Eastern and Western temples, and different from each other, too.”

“You were all children. You all died as children.” His voice was hoarse. It was a lot to take in, finding out you were supposed to be the keeper of the balance of the world and then finding out three of your past lives were all under the age of sixteen when they died, one of them not even a teenager.

Agni, what was he going to do?

“It’s okay! You’re here now. We live through you, every past Avatar does. And I can teach you airbending! I’m so excited to watch the next Avatar airbend.”

“If I’m caught airbending, I’m dead.”

“Why? It’s just air. And you’re the Avatar, it’s stupid to kill you.”

“Because the Air Nation Army tried to kill my people.”

“Army? What army?” Aang looked confused. “We didn’t have an army. Why would we?”

“To attack the Fire Nation with. Fire Lord Sozin said you were going to try and take us over.”

“We would never do such a thing!” Aang scowled, presumably at the long-dead ruler. “We were pacifists.”

“I mean, sometimes even pacifists go to war. I know a lot of military men who went out of a sense of duty to their country.”

Aang shook his head. “You don’t understand, Ozai. Monk Gyatso taught me all life was sacred, that even the buzzard-fly had value. Killing anything would go against that.”

His nausea was starting to come back as Ozai realized three crucial truths. One, the Fire Nation had been lying to its people, all its people, about the war for nearly a hundred years. Two, the people who they had attacked had been slaughtered, including their elderly, women, and children. And three, as the Avatar, it was his duty to do something about this.

He needed to stop the Fire Lord. He needed to stop the war. He just didn’t know how.

“You should go back. But don’t forget to visit!” Aang gave him a big grin, waving goodbye.

Ozai opened his mouth to say he had no idea how he even ended up here before darkness swallowed him and his eyes snapped open to the stars, with the incense burned out and the sea still crashing far below him. Dried tears tracked down his cheeks, and he rubbed away the residue before gathering up his supplies and heading back down to his boat, sailing back to the palace weighed down by this new knowledge, of dead children and hopeless dreams, of unspoken promises and the fate of the world, each one resting on his shoulders.

**********

He talked with Aang a lot in the weeks after the solstice, sometimes in meditation, and sometimes when the kid just popped out of nowhere and startled the ever-loving daylights out of him. Aang couldn’t explain the phenomenon either, their best guess being Aang’s connection with the spirits in his life led to greater abilities after his death. Privately, Ozai was grateful to whatever allowed this. Learning airbending was going to be hard enough, with the entire court of the Fire Lord breathing down his back, but this way he at least had someone who could tell him if he was doing it right or not.

He had just finished talking with the young airbender about Air Nomad culture in more depth when he was called to the war room, the Fire Lord sitting behind the flames as generals spoke about plans for the war. Ozai was spinning two flames above his hand, one orange, one blue, idly watching them whirl their own tiny vortex above his outstretched pinky and thumb, his middle fingers curled inward. His brother thought of it as a parlor trick and nothing more, but Ozai had justified it by listing the control and finesse needed to control two spinning flames of different temperatures. It had probably even improved his control of his flames as a whole. In reality, however, it was an adapted trick from the very airbender he had started talking to on the solstice. Aang had very excitedly described the marble trick he would always do, even showing Ozai the marbles he used. And that’s when some of Ozai’s dreams had clicked.

As a kid, he had always had strange dreams, of places he had never been and things he had never done. His father had brushed them off, but it had been what the Sages had first been drawn to about Ozai. He eventually assumed they were spirit-given dreams, showing him things he would need to know for some reason or another down the line. Some of those were at temples, filled with monks, laughing and playing with children while airbending. He had identified them as Aang’s memories with the kid’s enthusiastic help, and it was after that talk that it had truly sunk in that they hadn’t been fighting soldiers or warriors. They had massacred an entire people.

Another potential massacre made his flames stop spinning when his heart leaped into his throat. A man who had been a general longer than his brother had proposed a plan that made Ozai think of Li, of Tallara, of Aang. Of his own children, still thankfully too young to go off to war and die for the propaganda their nation had been drinking.

“You can’t be serious, General Bujing. Sacrificing an entire division like that? Made up of novice recruits?” Ozai saw a twelve year old airbender instead of sixteen year old firebenders, the fire in front of the dais flaring with the Fire Lord’s anger as he spoke. He ignored the anger even as his own flared in response. So much that he had to push himself away from the Dragon Throne’s flames, remembering the last time someone took unconscious control of them, how the man sitting on that throne had reacted. “They’re children. Fire Nation children.”

“Prince Ozai.” The Fire Lord’s voice cut through the room, drawing everyone’s attention. Ozai watched as the fire lit up his face from below, casting shadows over his eyes. “Speaking against the general in his field of expertise is an act of disrespect. If we needed to consult the spirits, we would ask your opinion.” 

Despite the tension Ozai could have sliced through with a knife, the generals chuckled. It was well-known he had never been a military-minded man, and currently, he was all the more grateful for it. The noise stilled, however, as their leader commanded their attention again.

“However, I am a gracious man, and will give you a chance to apologize.”

Ozai’s eyes hardened, his shoulders drawing back in a clear challenge. One he would make the other voice. “I will not apologize. Not for advocating for children only barely older than my son.”

“Very well. I expect to see you in the Agni Kai arena tomorrow at sunset.”

Ozai set his jaw. He knew exactly who he was dueling. But he knew he was good enough to win. Maybe this could even put him on the throne, and he could lead his country himself. Regardless of the outcome, he would make it a show, royalty against royalty. Two of the greatest firebending masters of their age pitted against one another, fighting not just to settle their differences, but for an entire country, the balance of the world hanging between them. Even if only one party knew the weight this Agni Kai would hold, hold it the duel would. So he spoke with his head held high and determination in his voice.

“I accept your challenge, Fire Lord Iroh.”


	2. Chapter 2

Ozai was meditating on the significance of the Agni Kai attire as a flame flickered in the middle of the room. He hadn’t fought in many Agni Kai duels, but the ones he had he made it a habit to reflect on what he knew. The Fire Sages had taught him everything, from how the armbands were representative of his mother’s blessing, how they went shirtless to soak in Agni’s light, how the strip of cloth over his shoulders represented his status, gold lining the deep red for a prince of the Fire Nation. The design was only just barely more used than the one for the Fire Lord. Typically, if the Fire Lord participated in an Agni Kai, he was the challenger.

Aang shimmered into view at some point, and Ozai could see his chipper attitude dampen immediately. He could see something important was going on.

“What’s happening?” He crossed his legs on Ozai’s bed, waiting.

“I’m fighting in an Agni Kai. A fire duel. It’s not really a good time to talk, but I’m going to warn you now. After the duel, I might not really be reachable for a while, depending on how it goes.”

Aang nodded. “Alright. I’ll go play with Appa or something.” He popped out of existence again, leaving Ozai alone.

Ozai was at the arena at sunset. He had made peace with his probable fate of losing, and hoped for the less likely chance of him winning. Now all that was left was to face perhaps the only firebender better than him in an Agni Kai. He didn’t like his chances, but they weren’t the worst in the world. It was a true toss-up, both brothers having won full out fights in the past. And if he had to kill his own brother... Iroh knew what he was doing when he challenged Ozai to an Agni Kai.

Ozai stood and turned, and there was the Fire Lord. There was his brother. Iroh spread his arms wide, a cocky smile on his face.

“I will give you one last chance. Apologize and retract your statement, or suffering will be your teacher.”

Ozai slid into a firebending stance. “I will never apologize for defending children.”

Iroh took the first move, punching fire forward that Ozai easily dodged. But he had always been good at finding small openings to attack in, and he shot fire at Iroh’s side, the other bending it away with a circular hand motion that led straight into another attack, one that Ozai split to the sides and sent his own after. But Iroh was pushing him back with sheer force, every flame he redirected skidding him farther and farther back. And so he pulled out his trump card, summoning his twin bolts of cold fire, the lightning arcing across the arena as fast as he had summoned it.

When his brother didn’t dodge it, and instead seemed to absorb it, Ozai wondered what was happening.

When Iroh pointed at him, and the lightning Ozai had shot arced straight back to him, Ozai’s heart dropped. He hadn’t thought he would next be seeing Aang in the Spirit World. Agni, what would happen to the Avatar Cycle?

Ozai went rigid as the lightning hit his left shoulder, his eyes lighting up as the strike traveled down his arm, across his chest, along his side and even leg. He let out a strangled scream before collapsing, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air. His entire world was numbness and pain as he shoved himself up with his undamaged arm, looking up at Iroh through the strands of hair that had fallen in front of his face.

The shock and confusion that Ozai could feel, buzzing around in the back of his head, was mirrored on Iroh’s face. He should be dead, and yet here he was, very much alive. Maybe not for long, but lightning was guaranteed death. And both of them had escaped it, in very different ways.

Loud whispers filled the air as Iroh began talking. “Prince Ozai, you will be banished and stripped of your titles and power. If found in the Fire Nation, including any of the colonies, you can and will be killed on sight. You have a week of grace period.”

He watched as Iroh walked off, before he was dragged up by palace guards and taken away.

**********

All Ozai could feel on his left was pain as Azula hugged his right, his grace period three days away from ending. He had tried and failed to pull money from the royal treasury, which every adult member of the royal family should have access to. When the reality of what that meant had settled in, of how Iroh wanted him dead and would take any excuse to do the deed himself, Ozai had short-circuited. What was he supposed to do, if he couldn’t pay for at least passage out of the country? Let alone the medical supplies he would need, for fever and burns, for potential infection. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, and he wouldn’t be for a while.

He started when Lu Ten knocked on his doorway, carefully detaching Azula and standing to bow. His legs trembled as his burned one protested the bend, and all of a sudden Lu Ten was catching him with gentle hands that carefully avoided any of his burned skin.

“Careful there, Uncle Ozai. Don’t strain yourself.” He helped Ozai sit back down again, pulling an envelope out of his sleeve. “I have your ticket out of the Fire Nation here.”

“You got that for me?”

Lu Ten nodded, sighing. “I am not my father. Safe travels, Uncle Ozai. Write to me, so I can visit.”

He gently hugged Ozai, who squeezed back. “I can’t promise I’ll remember to write. But find a way to tell me your wedding date, and I’ll be there, banishment be damned.”

Lu Ten laughed, and Ozai smiled. The envelope was tucked into Ozai’s pocket, and he got up to make final preparations. And once those were done, Ozai was leaning against Zuko’s door, his son writing at his desk.

“Zuko?”

He turned around, scowling. Zuko’s arms crossed, his voice filled with anger. “You should have just apologized, and this wouldn’t have happened.”

Ozai shook his head. “I couldn’t. Not for standing up for what I believed in.”

“You insulted the Fire Lord.”

“He was going to kill children. Children barely older than you.”

“They chose to serve their country. It would be an honor for them to die.”

Ozai opened his mouth to tell him how nobody but Sozin chose this war, but Zuko was turning back around already, so Ozai simply sighed and left, taking his small bag of memorabilia to remember his family by. Zuko’s favorite play, the hairpiece Azula wore when she was six, a dried flower from the gardens his wife had kept, with Azulon’s blessing. His heart ached when he thought of Ursa, how he had watched her die from dragonblight, helpless to stop it. How the grief had been opened anew when Iroh had come home and coldly told him that Azulon should have lived and Ozai should have died. Only Lu Ten had given him space to grieve, to cry and scream, to mourn his wife and father.

He was acquainted with the healer on board for him, and she guided him to a hammock, and the instant Ozai slipped into sleep, his eyes opened to a Water Tribe ship, his legs swinging out of the hammock automatically. He was dressed in Water Tribe blue, and the motions he went through to care for patients were familiar. Glowing water, burns bandaged, his tribemates surrounding him. And when the scene blurred, all he could hear was the crashing of wood as the boat exploded, a teenager’s voice echoing through his mind as he’s thrown back to white, white, white. Snow falling around shrieking children, who threw snow with hands and bending. He was filled with the burning need to protect them, to go off and fight the Fire Nation for them.

_I was the only healer in my village. I had to go with the warriors, to protect them, to keep them safe. I was days shy of my sixteenth birthday when I was killed by a flaming rock smashing into the side of my boat. Your family did this to mine._

He was on the ship again, washed against the ice. Tallara’s father limping out, leaning on a crutch of whalebone. Her broken body found in the hold, thrown over another, her father sitting by a fire as the light gleamed on the tear tracks.

_All I ask, Avatar Ozai, is for you to right your family’s wrongs._

He was in a small Earth Kingdom village. He knew that if he looked down, he would be able to count his ribs, the knowledge half experience, half dream logic. He was giving food to his younger sister, one of many younger sisters, telling them he would be okay. A younger brother was sick. He needed to find medicine for him, and time sped up around him to have him curled up in bed, pushing himself up one last time. He would be dead by the end of the day, nothing but skin and bones, his siblings picked off for the war or as slaves. It was Li that spoke, her voice still weak, as though she was still starving herself for her family.

_My mother died in childbirth, and my father was drafted soon after. I hadn’t eaten in months, just trying to keep my nine siblings alive. The Earth Kingdom Army left us to die. Do not trust them just because they have not burned you. They have starved their people, and they starved their Avatar._

He was in the throne room again, a few years younger. Iroh had just claimed the throne, and a man was burning, his only crime having been to take the Fire Lord’s flames in front of the dais. Ozai could still smell the acrid scent, so similar to his own, and while he half-expected the next dream to be the Agni Kai, it wasn’t.

He almost wished it was. It would have been less painful than going through this nightmare again.

Thunder boomed overhead as he flew through a storm, Appa’s fluffy fur matted and heavy. Lightning crashed, sending Ozai flinching more than Aang. And then they hit the water, the cold already leaching into his bones. The dark surrounded him, and a cracking noise echoed through the dream as he felt everyone leave him, all his past lives drawing away as water filled the space in the hollow iceberg first, and then his lungs, the cold burning, burning, burning as he faded away, and then it wasn’t ice, it was lightning, electrifying every portion of his body, and everyone came roaring back, all screaming in tandem to keep him alive. Only then did he rock up in the Earth Kingdom ship, gasping for air. The healer laid a steadying arm on his unburned shoulder, murmuring quiet reassurances until he was calmed down.

“Easy, easy. You’ve been out for basically the entire trip. We’ve just docked in Gaoling.”

Ozai nodded, slowly getting out of the bed he had occupied for a solid week. His side and leg had improved, as well as the skin around his hand, but most of him still felt like it was on fire as the healer applied one last round of burn salve.

“Keep it clean, and you should be alright. A warning that you still have some morphine in your system, so your pain levels are going to spike considerably.”

“Thank you for the care and warning.” He pulled his bag over his good shoulder, bowing to her. Lower than he would have as a Prince.

“No need to bow so low, Prince Ozai.” Her voice belied that she had no idea what to do about him bowing to her as if he was a commoner.

“I am not a prince. Not any more. And if you see him again, thank Crown Prince Lu Ten for me.” He hoisted his bag higher, and headed off to Gaoling. Ozai was ready to start his new life, whatever that meant, here in the Earth Kingdom. And if he was being honest with himself, he was looking forward to it. It would mean less pain for protecting innocent children from another’s wrath.


	3. Chapter 3

The day after he arrived in Gaoling, Ozai found himself leaning up against a smooth stone wall, trying not to let the agony of his burns take over his whole being. The painkillers in his system had completely worn off, and he was facing the full brunt of his brother’s wrath once again. 

He was taken by surprise when the wall fell out from under his back, and he was unceremoniously spilled into the garden. Pain radiated throughout his body as he wondered how that had happened, before he belatedly realized he was in the Earth Kingdom, and therefore, there were earthbenders around. It took him even more time to realize that there was a small child above him, her mouth moving. Sound was coming out, oh yes, and he could hear said sounds, but it took them a while to coalesce into words he could actually understand.

“-make me late to Earth Rumble, chose right where I walk to lean against, and the asshole is still in my way.” She kicked his side, trying to get him to move out of the way. Unfortunately for Ozai, she just so happened to be on his left side. He yelped in pain, skittering away and pressing a hand to where waves of burning pain pulsed outward.

“Shit. Shit, you’re not okay, are you?” She crouched down, her hand hovering over Ozai’s burn. “Shit. Um. Do you need a healer?”

“I’m fine.” He pushed himself up again, sucking in a breath. “Once the world stops spinning, that is.” He stumbled out of her garden, tripping over a rock that he swore wasn’t there two seconds ago.

“You’re hurt. Bad. Burn, from the heat I felt coming off of you.” The girl looked sharply back at her house, closing up the wall and lowering her voice. “If you’ve gotten on the wrong side of firebenders, this isn’t the town to be in. Merchants of all types come here to trade.”

“My nephew said this place was neutral. Not Fire Nation.”

“We are. But if you got on someone’s bad side enough for them to do that to you, I find it hard to believe they’ll care what alliances are made here.”

Ozai went back to leaning on something as he mulled his options over, his side and arm still burning. Going back to the Fire Nation would get him killed, but so would going too far into the Earth Kingdom. His eyes were a dead giveaway even without bending a single flame. But something he hadn’t considered, and neither had Lu Ten, was that his own people might want to profit off of him.

“So what do you suggest?”

“Come with me. I’ve got somewhere to be, but after that I can hook you up with somewhere safe.” She walked off, and Ozai followed with a grunt. “I’m Toph, by the way.”

“...Lee.”

She raised an eyebrow but said nothing, winding effortlessly through the streets before leading him into the Earth Rumble arena.

He hadn’t known exactly what to expect, aside from earthbending. And even then, there were so many styles to it that he was fascinated. One competitor bent with quick jabs and kicks, while another moved freely between attacks, one leading into another like water flowing in a stream. Another still whipped up a dust storm with motions that reminded him vaguely of Aang, and through it all, it was Toph’s style that stood out to him the most. Slow, methodical movements, waiting and listening, taking out opponents in unorthodox ways. Watching her made something deep inside him itch, like something was starting to awaken that had slept for far too long. 

The Earth Rumble was over all too quick for his liking, and soon he was out in the crisp night air, watching the stars twinkle high above his head as Toph led him across the street to the underground healer that serviced the Rumble.

“We’ll get you some supplies, and I want them to take a look at it. They’re a former army medic, they know how to treat burns.” He was sat down on a low stone seat, and an Earth Kingdom healer gently unwrapped his burns, dabbing salve on as they went. 

“You are the luckiest and unluckiest person I’ve ever met. Getting struck by lightning, that close to your heart, and it doesn’t pass through?” They chuckled. “I have never seen that before. You should be dead.”

Ozai could hear Toph make a startled noise as he shrugged, his right shoulder bobbing up and down. “I know. But you’re right, I got lucky.”

The rest of the check over went quickly, the healer pressing medicine and gauze into his hands. “Well, if anyone can protect you, it’s the Blind Bandit. If you need anything, come to me. I’ll keep quiet.”

Ozai nodded his thanks, ducking past the blanket covering the door and letting Toph take the lead again as they started off across Gaoling, keeping pace with one another now.

“I know your name isn’t Lee. And if you don’t want me to know your name, then so be it. But let me tell you this: You even think about hurting me, I will crush you like I did the Boulder tonight.”

Ozai couldn’t hold back the bitter laugh. “I’m only here because I wanted to protect children going off to die, and you think I want to hurt you?”

Toph head tipped towards him, her eyebrows drawn together. “What kinda place would do that?”

“The Fire Nation. The Fire Lord himself banished me.” Ozai looked away from her. “All because I didn’t want to sacrifice teenagers.”

“Well, the Fire Lord is stupid. And I’m glad you’re here. I want to practice my bending against more than just earthbenders.”

“Kid, if I bend around here, it won’t be good. And I’m also still recovering.”

“I’m going to set you up somewhere to do that recovering, and it’s perfect! I’m not really experienced in fighting firebenders.” She flashed him a grin, and Ozai got the funny feeling it would be hard to hide things from her. Of course, she could have put it together from things he said, but he had the feeling she knew long before he mentioned where he came from.

He was shaken out of his brief tangent by an arm straight to his stomach. Toph had stopped, and across the road from them were three Fire Nation soldiers, the leader squinting at Ozai. They were clearly blocking the way, and he could hear Toph swearing under her breath as she tried to figure out a way out of here.

“Nice night for a stroll,” The front one called out.

“That it is indeed. And my poor Uncle Lee, he just got back from the front, and he’s not really up to much. But he had enough energy to oh-so-kindly take me around tonight and describe the stars to me.” She wrapped her arms around Ozai and sighed longingly. “I’ve never seen them.”

Toph was a good actor, he had to give it to her. But he wasn’t about to trust his own voice, the Fire Nation accent having far too much potential to give him away. So he simply nodded, patting her head to help sell the act. At least their hair was a similar enough color.

“Why doesn’t he talk now, huh?”

“Oh, you know how soldiers get sometimes. And if you’re all in uniform, you might be spooking him a little too much.”

The leader scowled, still squinting at Ozai. He was just about to turn tail and run when the other spoke. “Alright. But get back to your house soon, girl, there’s potentially a dangerous firebender running around loose. Don’t want your uncle to get burned a second time.” The soldiers then started to walk away, and Ozai relaxed as Toph led him down a few more streets.

“I wasn’t lying. Those soldiers did spook you. I could feel you wind up like a snake that entire time.”

“If they had recognized me, and had enough distaste for the ruling class, they could have taken it out on me with great satisfaction and little consequences.”

“You’re not just some random off the street, huh.” Both of them knew it wasn’t a question as Toph found a suitable bush and bent a hole behind it, walking as she created a small but comfortable cave for him, even bending it back on itself so light from a fire wouldn’t alert anyone, even at night.

“I’ll expand it when we spar, but this should be good enough for now. I’ll be back to check on you before long. Give me a few minutes and I’ll get you some food and some bedding.”

Ozai set his bag down, along with the supplies the Earth Rumble healer had given him. He then bowed deeply to Toph, forming the flame out of habit.

“Thank you, for everything.”

She was taken aback, but bowed in return after a few moments. “You’re welcome.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a some thinking. I had to basically upend how I wanted it to go completely, and ended up with this!

Azula had thrown herself into her firebending practice in the weeks after the Agni Kai. Lo and Li’s critical gazes helped in this endeavor. Any time her pose was less than perfect, they were quick to point out what was wrong, and Azula was quick to fix it. She couldn’t afford anything less than perfection.

Punches and kicks were trailed by orange fire as she moved across the practice arena, the flames dancing between her hands in the middle before she ended with a jump kick, taking no time at all to recover before going into the next set. Azula grunted as she overbalanced and fell, scowling and running her whole practice from the top again before even getting prompted by her mentors.

Her father’s scream echoed in her ears as she stumbled again, in a different set this time. She reset herself and started from the beginning. Ozai was one of the greatest firebenders alive, and he hadn’t been good enough to win. So she spent every spare moment out here, because if perfection was what was necessary, then she would obtain it. And maybe one day, if she was perfect, Uncle Iroh would let her go see her dad again.

When she finally made it to the end of her sets, a voice spoke from behind her.

“You’re pretty good. A true prodigy.”

She whirled around, her hands at the ready, until she saw who it was. “It’s still not good enough. I still make mistakes.”

Lu Ten chuckled. “And I am an adult who also still makes mistakes. When I was your age, I was only dreaming of what you can already do.”

“It doesn’t matter. I need to be better.”

“Better can wait a little longer, can’t it? It’s nearing dinnertime, and Father’s already starting the rounds of tea.”

Azula sighed, following Lu Ten out of the practice arena. “Better can wait.”

Dinner wasn’t a quiet affair, but it still held a cloud over it, despite Iroh’s tea jokes and Lu Ten’s good-natured groans. Azula would often pick at her meal, feeding bits to the palace cat when everyone else wasn’t looking. The other half of the cloud was Zuko, who wore a near-permanent scowl these days. She didn’t understand why he was so angry and yet seemed to take Iroh’s side. Shouldn’t he be angry for their father? He was going to lose the Agni Kai soon anyways, and so he did the only thing he could.

It just wasn’t enough.

Azula could still see the lightning streaking back where it came from, burning everything it touched. Everything but her uncle. She still didn’t know how he did it, despite her asking both Iroh and Lu Ten at least once a week. Her cousin would just shrug and admit he didn’t know, and Iroh would change topics on her, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. And Azula was scared by it, but not scared enough to stop trying to fill the holes in her knowledge. She had to be perfect, after all.

“Azula, stop feeding the cat.” Zuko’s voice scared Kyun away, and Azula sighed.

“She likes it.”

“It’s not healthy for her. And anyways, she’s basically a servant. She’s supposed to be catching the pests.”

Azula rested her cheek on a half fist, scowling at her plate as she pushed the rice around. She had eaten a couple bites of the fish and lost her appetite, and Lu Ten looked at her all sad and mopey when her plate was left full.

“Is the food not agreeable? I can hire new kitchen staff if the food isn’t to your liking.” Iroh smiled softly, kindly. It turned Azula’s stomach more.

“No, I’m just not very hungry.”

“Would you like to be dismissed?”

She simply nodded, and left the table when Iroh waved his hand.

**********

Zuko was cleaning his swords after a practice session with Lu Ten. He didn’t know why he kept up with it, really. His father had encouraged him to join because of his weak firebending. But Ozai wasn’t around any more, and Zuko didn’t need to appease him. He just couldn’t help being drawn to steel, after all, if it was good enough for the Crown Prince, it was good enough for him.

He watched his sister enter the practice arena, Lo and Li following after her. All she ever did was practice her firebending. Acting like she was so much better than him. She had doggedly hung onto Ozai’s every word and action. Zuko knew better, though.

Uncle was better than his father would ever be. After Iroh had come home from Ba Sing Se, he had wrapped his warm arms around Zuko and comforted him. They had tea every day, and that’s when Zuko found out who had really brought the dragonblight into the palace. Ozai had said it was a palace servant, but his uncle told him the truth.

His father deserved to be banished.

Zuko watched Azula’s too-perfect katas and burned inside, his inner fire roaring with his rage.

**********

Ozai turned a dried lily over in his hand, the other arm tucked under his head. The fire flickered next to him, casting a golden glow on it, and it brought Ozai back to that final night with Ursa. How she begged him to take care of the children, her eyes glassy and feverish. It was a few days later, when his brother had come home from the war, that he was cleared to leave his quarantine. The first words Iroh had said still stung.

_Father should still be alive, not you. He still had so much to give. And all you’re useful for is party planning and spirit nonsense._

When Lu Ten had found him later, his room was turned upside down, the fire was just embers, and Ozai was laying on the floor, dried tears on his cheeks as he shivered. He was still sick, just not in any danger. And as soon as that had happened, everyone had stopped caring. But Lu Ten flared the fire and straightened Ozai’s bed, before bundling his uncle into it and listening as Ozai poured out his heart, processing his grief.

“I tried, Ursa. I tried. But something happened, and Zuko started hating me. I’m not even sure what it was. And then I spoke up for children, and Ursa, he tried to kill me and then banished me. I’m sorry I failed. I want to take care of them. But I can’t. Not any more.” His voice barely reached his own ears, and he gently put the flower back before getting more comfortable and falling asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Toph knew one thing for certain with this “Lee”, and that was that he walked and talked like a noble. Oh, his gait was thrown off by his burns, no doubt about it, but underneath it was the meticulous way someone held themself when they were important. And Lee? Lee held himself like he thought he was one of the most important people in the spirits-damned world. She was familiar with that type of person. They walked into her house all the time, making deals with her parents, money exchanging hands. But there was always the fear, always the knowledge in their steps that they were really just small potatoes.

Lee’s walk had nothing of that. No hesitation, no fear, not even a slight stutter. Nothing to indicate he was anything less than hot shit. Which, given what little she knew of the Fire Nation ruling class, was interesting. He clearly wasn’t the Fire Lord, otherwise there would be uproar and the war most likely would have at least had a ripple. It did when the old Fire Lord died and was replaced by his son, she knew that. But even a high-ranking noble would have some fear of the most powerful man in the nation. However, her eavesdropping on her parent’s conversations had still left her knowledge of the Fire Nation court frustratingly limited. They talked more about the soldiers closer to home, less about the dances of politics in a court farther from them than Ba Sing Se.

Whatever. She would find out who Lee really was one way or another. Her more pressing issue was the way her parents treated her like a broken glass figurine. Delicate, fragile, and unfit for polite company. Like right now, how she was eating her dinner in her room because her parents had a business partner over. Of course, when she was done eating and her dish was put in the kitchen by the house servant, she burrowed her way under the ground and came as close to the surface as she could without alerting her parents. She wanted to actually hear the conversation, not get kicked out. Especially because these merchants were Fire Nation. They might have useful info.

“So, Aiyuku, tell me the drama of late.”

“Oh, is there ever drama! Just last month, about four weeks ago, the Fire Lord challenged one of the older princes to an Agni Kai. I watched, and it was beautiful.” Aiyuku giggled, the sound high and almost grating to Toph’s ears. “At least, until the end. Nobody’s still quite sure what happened, really. The Fire Lord should be dead, and so should the prince.”

Rihon’s words echoed in Toph’s head. Lee should be dead, too. But nobody could bend lightning, right? And that’s what had caused the burn on so much of Lee’s body, every motion to be halting and full of pain.

“Really? What happened?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe it, Lao. The prince bent lightning. And the Fire Lord did, too. But he did it faster than anyone had ever seen!”

Toph could barely hear her parent’s cries of surprise over her own thoughts as they needled Aiyuka for more details, and buried under the pointless gossip one detail wormed its way into her brain. Prince “Lee” was the fastest lightning bender the Fire Nation had ever known. And as she went out to pick up her punching bag and drag him to the Earth Rumble, the gears turned in her head, trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together.

**********

As Ozai ducked another rock tossed at his head, he could tell Toph was preoccupied. She never really looked at him, or even talked much, but it was all in the facial expressions. He recognized it from dinners and practices, when his own daughter was working through particularly hard katas meant for people far older than her. And Toph looked like there was something that had been bugging her for a while on her mind.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing.” She pulled up a wall to block his fire before trying to knock him off-balance, and he danced around trying to avoid it.

“Maybe I could help out?” She caught his foot, and he was on his back with a soft groan before he knew it. As he sat up, Toph crossed her arms, scowling.

“What I’m trying to figure out is why a low-level prince would be so important.”

“I don’t have that answer. Have your parents started dealing with the local royalty?”

She just sighed and shook her head. “What time is it? I don’t want to be late for the Earth Rumble.”

Ozai took a moment, tipping his head. “Just before sunset.”

“Alright, we should have time for you to get some sun on a walk, then.”

She led him out as he was tossing on a cloak, toying with his hair.

“Can you get me a knife?”

“I could find you a knife.”

“Thanks.”

They walked in silence after that, Ozai drinking in the last rays of light. Sending up a prayer to Agni at the same time, apologizing for only ever appearing at night. He wished he could walk freely during the day, but he didn’t want to risk a soldier getting too flame-happy.

He was torn from his thoughts by small, helpless peeps. Ozai stopped, Toph continuing on a little before huffing and waiting for him. He searched the bushes, the peeping getting louder, more urgent as he got closer. And eventually, he came across a small, injured gray bird, so dark that in the fading light it looked black. Blood streaked its left wing, and Ozai gently scooped the chick up, easily cradling it, her, in one hand.

“I’m not taking care of it.”

“No, no, I have this. The Sages taught me a bit on how to care for animals. Can we visit the healer after the Rumble? Rihon?”

“...Fine.”

Ozai carried the small bird with him as they went, holding her close as he watched the matches, trying to glean any information he could on earthbending from the competitors. She seemed to have fallen asleep, tiny cheeps occasionally escaping his hands. After a quick stop by the healer to pick up supplies, he was back in his cave, gently tending to the bird. The gash was deep and jagged, but it was clean at the very least, and he carefully bandaged it, He watched as she woke up, seemingly enthralled by the fire, and he spent most of the night keeping her a safe distance away from it. He wanted this bird to live, not get cooked.

When she settled into the crook of his arm, both of them settling down to sleep near the fire, he smiled.


End file.
